A Call to Arms
by Almariado
Summary: When investigating a case, Kate and Castle cross paths with the FBI's Fringe Division, but in the least expected way. Set on season one of both shows. (No longer on hiatus, chapter 6 coming soon)
1. A Box of Pins

Disclaimer: I own nothing, only the cookies I'm eating right now

A/N: This is my first fic ever. This is a plot that has been playing around on my mind for some time now. I never intended to write it because I never wrote anything (fiction wise) so my writing style is appalling, if one can call "writing style" to what you're about to read... if you are brave enough to proceed, that is.

To make things worse I'm not a native English speaker, so misspellings and grammar errors are to be expected.

Fortunately I had help. The ever amazing Crystalline Green came to my rescue, so she had lots of work correcting, changing and adding text. So consider her co-author. The best written parts are all hers, the crappy ones are mine. Yes it's my fault she hasn't written chapter 4 of "Characteristic Commonality" yet.

The plot to this story is already lined-up and written down, so I intend on finishing this.

It takes place on season one of both shows. On Fringe would be between "Ability" and "Inner Child" and on Castle somewhere between "Hell Hath No Fury" and "A Chill Goes Through Her Veins"

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Chapter 1 – A Box of Pins

All was quiet in the bullpen of the 12th. Oddly quiet.

Kate was stuck doing paperwork while Castle insisted on playing with a strange box he found God knows were. The box was rectangular, about the size of your hand, the front panel was transparent Perspex and the back was a matrix made up of small round headed pins. Each was anchored within, so they could slide but would not fall out once the box was upturned. Impressions could be set into the mesh-like surface, forming a perfect 3D replication on the front surface of whatever was pressed into the back.

Castle kept printing his face with an ever changing array of crazy expressions, then he transitioned into imprinting other body parts, watching with great amusement as the pins formed a copy in relief of the original. Oh he was having so much fun and the fact that Kate was becoming visibly annoyed because of what he was doing only made things more interesting.

That was when he decided to tease Kate a bit more, so he sprawled out completely on his chair, legs outstretched in front of him. Kate, who had been watching surreptitiously all along, noticed he was about to put the box on a rather more private part of his body and decided she had seen enough.

"Castle if you do that, I swear I'll pull my gun and shoot that box. I don't care where it is at the time."

"Afraid you may like what you see?" He asked with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Kate gave him a stern look, "Really, Castle? Now, do that on that same spot with sharp pins and no clothes; that would be something I would definitely like to see."

"The sharp pins or the no clothes part?" His face lit up, "I do seem to bring out the kinky part of you, Detective. Remember my safe word is apples," Castle said with a teasing smile, enjoying the aggravated look Kate was giving him.

"Right now you're bringing out the annoyed part of me. Do something useful and go get me some coffee, all this paperwork and you are giving me a headache."

Before Castle could respond, Ryan approached Beckett's desk after hanging up the phone.

"Coffee is gonna have to wait, dead body found in an apartment on East 11th. Esposito is already there waiting for us."

"Awesome!" Castle exclaimed exuberantly, "Nothing like a dead body to cheer up the morning!"

"Try not to look so excited about it. Someone's dead, Castle." Kate admonished. Meanwhile Ryan noticed the box Castle just settled in Beckett's in box on her desk. Reaching for it he asked, "What's with the box?"

"Oh it's a pin impression box, just put the side with the small holes against your face, drop your head back carefully then rise it slowly and see how it turns out" Castle said with a childlike enthusiasm, encouraging Ryan to have a go.

Ryan did exactly like Castle said and looked at the effect his face left on the box with wonder. "That is so awesome! Where did you get it?"

"Alexis gave it to me on one of my birthdays. This morning before leaving home I was looking for my keys and I found it under my bed. I've been looking for it for weeks and I just remembered how it got there. I had a date with a gorgeous NYU faculty teacher, she came home with me and I showed her the box and next thing I know we were on my bed naked making impressions of each other's bodies. Oh she had the most amazing..."

"Castle!" Kate shouted interrupting Castle before things got out of control.

By now Ryan was looking disgusted at the box. "I just put that on my face!"

"Next time you pick up something that belongs to Castle, wear a condom Ryan," Kate advised rolling her eyes at the pair of them. "Come on you two we've got work to do," and with that the trio made a beeline for the elevator leaving to join Esposito at the crime scene.

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A/N: Hope you have enjoy it. Next chapter is already written so I'll be posting it in the next few days.


	2. Walter, In the Lab, With An Experiment

Chapter 2 – Walter, In the Lab, With An Experiment

Olivia was definitely in need of a break. After spending the whole day doing paperwork that had accumulated because of her week in DC for the annual FBI update on law, ethics and security, which was always so much fun, she'd had enough of secretary work. By now she was even missing their wildly odd and bizarre cases.

Looking at the lab from her office she could see Peter messing around with some electronic parts scattered around his bench. He was sipping at his coffee completely oblivious to Walter watching him. Olivia didn't think too much of it, just Walter being Walter.

She toyed with the idea of asking Peter to join her for a real cup of coffee or maybe a drink, after all she had been away from her team for a week and it would be a good opportunity to catch up with what had happened during that time. Just two colleagues and friends, relaxing and catching up, that was all it would be.

To be honest she did really miss hanging around with Peter, his carefree attitude and the way he always had some smart ass comment about everything, which wasn't as annoying as she often made out it was, actually it made her laugh and feel better, not that she would ever confess that to him.

Not giving any more thought to it, she grabbed her coat and left the office, walking by Peter's bench on the way out. By now Walter was watching Peter overtly, which he couldn't fail to notice. "Do you need anything Walter?"

"Oh no Peter I'm fine, thank you son."

"So why do you keep watching me?" Peter asked irritated by the observation and even more so by Walter not getting to the point - if there was one.

"Oh that?" Walter blurted, as if surprised his observation had been noted by his son. Then he gave a sweet smile as he began his explanation, "Nothing really, I am just trying to ascertain if your penis has already acquired sufficient state of readiness to engage in sexual intercourse."

"Come again!?" Peter gaped, shocked at the response.

Olivia stopped in her tracks, already too close to Peter's bench to not listen to what Walter just said, definitely nothing good was coming out of that conversation. On the other side of the lab, Astrid raised her head, stopping the search she was doing on her computer and turning her focus completely on both men.

"Pay attention boy. Do I have to explain everything to you? If you hadn't dropped out of school there would be no need for that! I'm just trying to determine if you are sexually aroused." Walter noted the look on Peter's face, but in truest Walter fashion, he misinterpreted the look of mortification as confusion and therefore he pressed on, offering further explanation, "If you have an erection."

A snort almost came out of Astrid's mouth but she managed to stifle it with her hand in front of her face before it came out. Oh this was definitely going to get interesting.

"Walter, I understood very well the first time, what I don't understand is why on earth you are trying to determine such a thing!" Peter said felling is irritation growing.

By now Walter was watching Olivia who was standing a few feet from Peter trying to disguise the awkwardness of the situation, fiddling with her phone and pretending not to listen to that very strange conversation between the Bishop men.

"Of course, silly me, it wont do." Walter babbled, "Wrong environment with too many variables, we will have to try again later son, when we're alone in the lab."

"Walter..." Peter paused for a few seconds trying to gather as much patience as he could, especially knowing that Olivia was standing a few feet away listening to the whole God damned conversation.

"Now, from the beginning explain everything to me. Why are you expecting me to be... sexually aroused and what do you want to repeat again later when we are alone?"

"Oh yes, yes, I shall explain. The compound I put on your coffee a few minutes ago when you went to the bathroom is a powerful sexual stimulant I'm testing. I needed to know if I got the right dosage for a young man of your age and if it acts as quickly as I posited it would. But I forgot that Agent Dunham was here and that alone is enough to give you an erection, so my experiment is biased, hence we'll have to repeat it later once Olivia has gone home," Walter said, like if it was the most natural thing in the world.

By now Olivia was wishing she could disappear, the shade of red her face had turned was only a bit lighter than Peter's, who was dumb struck listening to his father's words. Nearby Astrid had ducked down pretending to get something from a low drawer in her work station, in order to hide behind her bench. She was trying really hard not to laugh her ass off.

"You put something in my coffee...?!" Peter's irritation now reaching near boiling point.

Before he could continue Olivia grabbed his arm getting is attention. "Peter let me get you a new cup of coffee, let's get out for a while I really need a break."

"Yeah, I need a break too," was all that Peter could muster as he was leaving the lab trailing behind Olivia.

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A/N The next chapter will bring the case. I'll update as soon as I can.


	3. The Crime Scene or The Coroner from Hell

A/N Needless to say, big thanks go to Crystalline Green, once again she turned a very crappy chapter into something enjoyable to read. Cheers mate, you're the best!

Chapter 3 – The Crime Scene (AKA The Coroner from hell)

The ride to the crime scene was uneventful. It was almost lunch time when they arrived. "There's a wonderful Tibetan restaurant not far from here, what do you say we go there after we wrap this up Beckett?" Castle said after his stomach grumbled.

"Are you asking me on a date Castle?" Kate asked raising an eyebrow.

"Why, would you accept if I did?"

Beckett rolled her eyes. "You wish."

"Oh you have no idea what I'm wishing for right now," Castle said with a teasing smile.

"Keep your wishes to yourself and let me concentrate on the crime scene," Kate retorted, becoming irritated by him once more, this already being the second time that day. She could feel it was going to be a long one.

Castle followed her into the building, pleased with himself for getting on the detective's nerves, getting a reaction out of Beckett made his day all the more fun.

Ryan kept is distance from the pair, watching amused the exchange between them. 'They're either going to end up at each other's throats or in bed together,' he thought to himself.

They reached the apartment on the 2nd floor without further comment from Castle, much to Beckett's relief, when he was in this type of mood he was tiresome, with his unrelenting wisecracks and energy of a child with ADHD.

Kate quickly surveyed the apartment, making a preliminarily analysis of it. The place was somber and small, it had only a living room with a small kitchen and on the left were two doors, leading presumably to a bedroom and a bathroom. In the center of the living room there was a cheap two seat sofa set up in front of a TV set which stood atop a small table.

There were no pictures decorating the bare walls, painted an inoffensive and utterly dull institutional cream. There were a couple of shelves mounted opposite the only window, but they were left empty, no books had been placed upon them, they were collecting only dust. The window itself had venetian blinds which had been left open, causing alternate slashes of light and shade on the wall. Looking around Kate realised there were no visible personal items anywhere that would indicate that this was someone's home, it actually felt more like a hotel room, cold and generic. On first impressions, Becket expected that this was temporary accommodation for whoever had lived here, all the evidence suggested their vic probably had not intended to stay for long.

A breakfast bar divided the kitchen from the living room, two stools stood in front of it and on the laminate worktop sat a plate containing an unfinished meal along with half a bottle of beer. Apparently the victim had been interrupted by his killer.

Something else caught Kate's attention. Near the breakfast bar there was a trash can full of whiskey bottles and beer cans. Also the empty beer bottles sitting on the living room's small table didn't go unnoticed to Kate. Either this guy had thrown a party or he had a drinking problem. She was definitely betting on the second option. That scenario was all too familiar to her.

Her mind was quickly filled with memories of a period of her dad's life she would rather forget. She pushed those thoughts away the best she could. She had a job to do, she had to remain focused.

The CSU team had already taken over the place. They were busy looking for fingerprints, analyzing blood patterns, taking pictures and all the other procedures they performed so efficiently that sometimes it was easy to overlook the work they did, but without them Kate knew her team would have a much harder time catching the perpetrator and without their trained eyes, would risk missing evidence crucial to building a solid case for the prosecutor.

She finally approached the body that was lying next to the sofa. Expecting to see Lanie, she was surprised when she noticed a male figure dressed in a coroner's jacket, leaning over the body.

"Excuse me," Beckett said drawing his attention.

The man turned to look at Kate "Can I help you Detective?" he asked in an annoyed tone, irritated at his work being interrupted.

Ryan came over to join them, he stood next to Kate and he nodded his head towards the ME "Perlmutter" he said in a not very enthusiastic way. Hearing Ryan's tone Castle's curiosity was raised about the 'new' coroner. Ryan was amicable by nature, he got on with most people and that he showed such open animosity was both highly unusual and intriguing.

"Yes that's my name, you really have amazing skills to figure that out, Detective." Perlmutter said in a snarky tone.

First Kate had to put up with Castle and now she had the grumpy Perlmutter to deal with too, the day really couldn't get any better.

"Lanie's away for a conference," Esposito explained approaching the trio.

"And this one is away for good," Perlmutter replied moving to the other side of the body in order examine his left arm. Which gave the team a better view of the corpse. A bullet hole was now clearly visible in the victim's forehead.

"GSW to the head, guess we won't need the coroner's report to know the cause of death," Castle said looking smug.

Perlmutter first turned to Castle assessing him with a squint, then to Beckett, "What is that?" he asked pointing at Castle.

"'That' is Richard Castle, the writer, he's... with us," Kate said amused by Perlmutter's reaction to Castle's comment. Perhaps this time Castle had met his match and Kate's recognised an opportunity, one too good to miss, to have some fun at Castle's expense.

"A writer?" Perlmutter asked Kate, a mocking note in his words and an incredulous look on his face.

"Hmm," Kate paused as if trying to make up her mind if that was the correct term to use in relation to Castle, she knew he was touchy on the subject "…yes a writer" she deadpanned, though she was having a hard time hiding her smile.

Castle watched the interaction between Beckett and Perlmutter becoming more nervous by the minute. Perlmutter was definitely giving him negative vibes and he found himself missing Lanie all of a sudden, she was much nicer and friendlier, plus she had a much better body then Perlmutter.

"You know Detective, cops with dogs - I get it, but cops with a writer...? What is he useful for? Writing insulting letters to suspects until they confess or maybe you force them to read his books until they spill their guts?" Kate and Esposito couldn't help a snort at Perlmutter's comment, which turned a nervous Castle into an annoyed one.

Despite her amusement, Beckett could sense Castle bristling and she knew that if she didn't step in soon, this was going to get out of hand. "Let him be Perlmutter, he's actually helpful sometimes," she said much to Castle's surprise. A compliment from Beckett? That was unexpected.

"He's helpful in what regard?" Perlmutter said raising an eyebrow at Kate.

"He brings me coffee, every morning, with a Bear Claw," Beckett retorted with a teasing look at Castle. A compliment from her obviously had to come with a catch, how did he not see it coming?

"Let's get back to things which matter shall we? Please, tell me what are your preliminarily findings Perlmutter, apart from the obvious GSW to the forehead," Kate said, trying to bring the discussion about Castle to a close.

"Actually, preliminary cause of death is the GSW to the head, like your 'writer' here said," Perlmutter put sarcastic emphasis on the word 'writer', unwilling as yet to let it go entirely. Kate heard it and knew Castle would too, so she gave him a warning glare to back down before he could open is mouth. Perlmutter then continued, "But I found something else. He has four puncture wounds, two in his left arm one in the right and one in the neck, consistent with injection via a hypodermic needle. When I get back to the lab I'll examine the rest of his body to see if there are any more and I'll run a tox screen to try to find out what he has in his system."

Kate furrowed her brow at this "Do you think he was an addict?" she asked.

"I don't think so," Perlmutter replied, "the puncture wounds aren't located in the usual sites I would expect an addict to inject himself."

"So he could have been poisoned or sedated and then shot?" Esposito asked with a puzzled look.

"That I can only determine after I run the tox screen, for all we know the puncture wounds may not even be related to the murder itself."

"Maybe it's from a treatment of some kind, like Chinese acupuncture, or maybe a drug test," Castle interrupted the dialogue between the detectives and the coroner, already imagining a conspiracy theory for the murder, "Yes a drug test, maybe he was a test subject in a highly classified drug trial for the CIA. Then he stole the drug and tried to sell it to a foreign country, but they were monitoring him and found out before he could seal the deal, so they put a plan in place to eliminate him, making it look like a home invasion gone bad," he elaborated with childlike enthusiasm.

They all looked at Castle. Perlmutter was the first to retort "Yes, he's really very helpful," he said looking at Kate.

"Ignore him, that's what I do," she said, earning a resentful look from Castle.

"Can you give us a time of death?" Ryan asked.

"Approximately 36 to 48 hours, I'll be able to narrow it down once I conclude my examinations in the lab"

"Thank you Perlmutter," Kate said walking away from the body, motioning to her colleagues to follow her. She led them to the kitchen where there were less people and they could talk without interfering with the work the CSU team was conducting. "Espo, what did you find out about the vic before we got here?" she asked turning to her colleague.

"His name is Matthew Long, according to his driver's license he was 58 and he's from Virginia. The owner of the building found the body. The victim complained about the pipes last week, so the owner came here today to fix it and when no one answered the door, he decided to use his spare key to let himself in and take a look at the pipes, that was when he discovered the body. He also said that the victim had rented the apartment 4 months ago and payed six months ahead. I talked to some of the neighbors, the guy apparently kept very much to himself, so no one noticed a thing and no one heard anything, no gunshots, nothing whatsoever. Uniforms are still knocking on doors, so maybe something more will turn up."

"Thanks Javi," Kate said with an appreciative nod. "Ok guys I don't think there's much more we can do here, let's go back to the precinct and start with a background check on the victim. It seems he wasn't planning on staying here for long. I want to know as much about him as possible, most of all I want to know why he was here living such a sparse life," Beckett said with a pensive look. "Let's see how far that gets us, at least until we get something more to work on from the CSU team and Perlmutter."

As they were heading to the exit, Castle approached Beckett. "So, Tibetan?" he said raising is eyebrows.

"You act like a pregnant woman with a craving, you know that?" Kate said sighed in defeat, "Let's go then, but only if they have take out, we're eating at the precinct. I want to start working on this immediately."

Castle smiled like a child who just had been given the biggest candy in the shop.

"Yes, they have take out and you are going to love it. I promise you."

They were already out of the apartment when one of the CSU officers came running after them. "Detectives, wait."

Esposito turned to the blue eyed and very beautiful brunet who was now approaching them. "What's up Sandy?" he asked giving her a large smile.

"We found something, I think you should see it," she said with a shy smile handing two evidence bags to Esposito.

"Driver's licenses, several passports and a 9mm bullet casing," Ryan said glancing briefly at the two bags.

"Actually that is an unspent 9mm shell," Sandy clarified, "and it looks like there's a partial print on the jacket."

Kate took the bag with the bullet from Esposito "Same caliber of bullet that was used to shoot the victim?" Beckett asked, already having a pretty good idea that it was, having seen as many gunshot wounds as she had, she'd become pretty good at identifying the caliber on sight of the damage they caused.

"Yes, 9 mm, the CSU team found the casing from the fired bullet before I arrived," Esposito replied.

"Maybe the gun misfired and the killer just left the bullet there, it could be a dud," Castle said looking excitedly at the bullet, his eyes glittering, already reveling in the puzzle and intent on unraveling the story.

"He didn't bother picking it up, or maybe he was disturbed and didn't have chance to recover it after taking the shot. He mustn't have realised that the unfired bullet carried is fingerprint," Kate said with a furrowed brow. "This is a huge break. Thanks Sandy, good job." Kate smiled at the young CSU officer.

Castle turned his attention to the evidence bag with the driver's licenses and passports, given it a closer look. "Fake id's" he said furrowing his brows "This has 'CIA cover up' written all over it. I bet the print on that bullet was left on purpose to lead us on a wild goose chase. Perhaps they're setting up a patsy, if we ever find who it belongs to".

Sandy looked at him puzzled, "CIA?"

Kate rolled her eyes. "Like I've said so many times before, just ignore him Sandy."

She smiled at Kate.

"We've collected prints too, we haven't run them through the fingerprint database yet, but they look to be from only two donors, most likely from the victim and the building owner, he said he touched the door handle when he came in and placement of the second set backs that up. We are still looking, we'll report to you as soon as we know anything more." She nodded and stepped back into the apartment to help complete their sweep.

Beckett turned to her colleagues. "It seems we have a lead to work after all. Let's go get the Tibetan food before Castle collapses and then get back to the precinct." She headed for the stairs followed by the three men.

"I've never collapsed from starvation, thank God," Castle said looking at Kate, "but there was once when I was having sex..."

"Castle!" Beckett whirled to face him, "I don't want to know!" she all but shouted giving him a severe warning look.

Castle gave her a big smile, raising an eyebrow. "Why detective..."

"Castle, zip-it! I said I don't want to know and if you really want the Tibetan food and to stay on this case, you'd better keep your mouth shut."

Castle glared at Kate "Jesus, someone is grumpy."

"Yes, you're driving me crazy." Kate said and with that she left the building, stalking with an angry gait to her car. Castle got in after her and miraculously he broke a record, he kept quiet all the way, until they arrived at the restaurant.


	4. Coffee and Flowers

A/N Two updates in two days, yay! Just a heads up, I'm also publishing this chapter along with chapter two as a oneshot in the Fringe section. Since they are not relevant to the plot of this story and I only included them like an introduction to the Fringe team for those who are not familiar with them, and because they also came out so well that I decided to publish them on their own.

As always Crystalline Green was the super-mega-and-much-more-than-a-beta-reader. Thanks to her corrections and suggestions, this became bearable to read.

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Chapter 4 – Coffee and Flowers

Early spring unfortunately didn't guarantee warmer weather in Boston, much to Peter's dismay. Still they walked to the coffee shop. There was a comfortable silence between the two as they passed by the students who were milling around the campus on that sunny yet crisp afternoon.

Peter threw occasional glances at Olivia, who was avoiding looking at him. He noticed that she was smiling, not that he didn't like seeing her smile, actually he loved it, but he didn't need his 190 genius IQ to know why she was smiling and trying so hard to hide it from him.

"You think it's funny, don't you Dunham? It's not your coffee that he spiked."

She looked at him, not needing to hide her amusement anymore. "Oh I don't think spiking my coffee would help his experiment, it would be difficult for me to get an erection." By now Olivia was openly laughing.

"Oh you're so funny Dunham, wait until he tries to develop a sexual stimulant for women."

Olivia grimaced at the thought, but she still kept their easy banter, "I have a feeling he would still test it on you."

"Yeah I guess he would," Peter said sighing.

They arrived at the coffee shop. Olivia grabbed the door so Peter could enter, smiling and biting her lower lip still amused by the events in the lab. Peter couldn't help smiling back, shaking his head.

He wondered at how easily their friendship had developed. But what he felt when she smiled at him like that, it was something he would keep hidden for now. In reality he didn't want to face the fact that the more time he spent around Olivia Dunham, the more he was drawn to her.

They entered the coffee shop which was full of students, some in small groups just chatting idly, others alone with books in front of their faces or resting on the table fully engrossed in their readings while they sipped at their warm cups of coffee.

"Go get us a table or... that booth. I'll get the coffee," Olivia said directing Peter with her eyes to a vacant booth by the window. "Do you want something to eat too?"

"Only if you're getting something for yourself."

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Fine. I'll get us two cream cheese bagels, if that's ok with you?"

"That would be excellent," Peter replied with a grin heading for the booth. He took a seat and waited for Olivia while taking a moment to observe his surroundings.

The coffee shop had a distinctive college atmosphere, so much like the places he used to frequent during his tenure as a professor at MIT. It made him miss those times, when he felt he was doing something positive with his life and it was also something he enjoyed very much. Even if he had faked his credentials in order to do it.

At one of the tables not far from Peter's booth there were three boys and a girl fully engrossed in a very animated discussion, by the sound of it, something to do with Computer Science, or maybe History.

Peter noticed the book the girl was holding and apparently quoting from it, reading it aloud to her colleagues. It was about Alan Turing, the English mathematical genius and his role in the development of computers.

The story of Alan Turing was one well known to Peter. It had a dark side which made him sick and reminded him of how cruel humanity could be every time he remembered it. The same man who had played a crucial role in decoding information transmitted by the famous Enigma machines during WWII and with that he helped defeat the Nazis, was later condemned by his own government to chemical castration only because of his sexual orientation.

Who knew how many lives that man had saved by using his unique skills to help breaking the Enigma machine. Who knew how much more his genius could have offered mankind if, just two years after the sentence was passed, he had not taken his own life at such a young age.

He was shaken from his deep thoughts by Olivia who had just returned with a loaded tray, she set it down on the table between the two of them and reached for her coffee, savouring it, while Peter went straight for the bagel, biting a big chunk off it.

She wondered how he managed to keep such a slim form eating like he did. After swallowing it with the help of some of his coffee, Peter broke the silence, "So tell me about your exciting week in DC," he said grinning at her.

"Oh God, don't remind me of that. Boring lecture after boring lecture which didn't teach me anything new. I only went because Broyles virtually forced me."

"Thank God I'm only a civilian consultant," Peter said raising is cup in a gesture resembling a toast before taking a sip.

She smiled at him, "Actually I was so bored that I kept hoping you would burst into the conference room and start giving the lecture of your own. Now that would have been interesting," she said chuckling.

Peter gave her one of his trademark grins. "So instead of focusing on the lecture, you were thinking about me."

She blushed lightly, only then noticing the implication of what she had said. "Err... I mean... you had so many jobs in the past and even faked your credentials to teach at MIT. I could totally see you faking your way to an FBI seminar and giving a lecture to a room full of Agents."

"Oh you could?" His smile was getting wider.

"Yeah," she kept looking at the bagel, picking a small piece off it with her fingers, trying to hide her discomfort.

Peter leaned back on his seat enjoying the reaction he was getting from Olivia. "I actually did, a few years ago."

"No Way!" she shot him a look of surprise.

"Well, Agent Dunham, wasn't that in the file the FBI kept on me?" she looked at him with her mouth wide, trying to read him searching for a hint as to whether he was telling the truth or not.

He kept his poker face for a while, until he thought it was enough and started laughing. She threw the peace of bagel she was holding at him, faking grievance, then she started laughing too.

They resumed their small meal, letting the conformable silence fall between them once again. Peter watched Olivia, pondering if he should ask her what he wanted so much to know.

He thought that bringing up the subject of David Robert Jones would most likely make her uncomfortable, also he hated to break up their moment, it wasn't often that he saw Olivia so relaxed.

But he couldn't help being worried about her. He had noticed how nervous and on edge she had been in the days after the events with the light box as a means of defusing the bomb and then of course there was Jones' spectacular escape from the hospital. He knew something else was worrying her, but as always she kept whatever it was to herself. "Olivia?"

"Yes?" She smiled at him and it almost made him stop from raising the question.

"Have you heard anything else about Jones?" Her smile dropped like he knew it would. He was already feeling like an asshole.

"No," she stated simply. He could sense the sudden discomfort taking over her. Now he was definitely regretting bringing the issue up. "Listen, maybe you were right and that thing with the bomb was all a scheme dreamed up in Jones' sick mind, to make you believe you have an ability." She shrugged and took another sip of her coffee.

He could clearly see she was struggling with something, he took her hand, feeling compelled to give her reassurance and comfort, along with warm smile. "I'm sorry Olivia, I shouldn't have brought that up." He noticed she didn't pull her hand away, it made a warm feeling bloom in his chest.

"It's ok Peter. Maybe you were the one who was actually right."

"I was?" he looked at her puzzled. She looked at him and he could see distress in her eyes. "Olivia, forget about Jones. He's not worth it." He gently squeezed her hand, still resting in his palm before he let go.

She looked out of the window, still battling with herself, wondering if she should reveal to Peter what Nina told her about the second round of Cortexiphan trials in Jacksonville.

Olivia always had a hard time talking about her problems even with the people she loved, like her sister Rachel. But Peter always seemed to manage to draw things out of her effortlessly. She had begun to recognize that it actually felt good being able to share things with him. But this - the possibility of having been a test subject as a child, for some God forsaken drug - was something she didn't want to face right now.

Then something happened. She noticed a woman passing by on the street with a bouquet of flowers in her hand and a smile appeared on Olivia's face. Peter watched her sudden change of demeanour, noticing how she brightened when she looked at the woman. "What is it? Do you know her?"

Olivia kept her eyes on the woman, still smiling. "No I don't," she paused, searching her thoughts and trying to put into words what she was experiencing in that moment. "Don't you ever associate something - like a sound, a smell or an object - to something else entirely different which apparently isn't related in any way?"

Peter watched her still observing the woman, he soaked up the moment but was still confused and had a curious look on his face, "Like what?"

"The woman with the bouquet of white tulips," she said smiling fondly, "Ever since I remember, I've always associated white tulips with snow." Olivia turned her attention to Peter, looking at him she was captivated by his winter blue eyes. And then it hits her; a strong sense of déjà vu.

She searched her memory in vain, trying to hold on to the feeling. It was frustrating for someone who could remember in minute detail, things which had happened years ago - to all of a sudden not be able to figure out what had triggered that overwhelming sense of familiarity, the powerful feeling of something important that had happened a long time ago… but she just couldn't remember what it was. And as the woman disappeared around the corner, the felling was gone, leaving her only with a sense of frustration, which must have shown.

"Are you ok?" Peter asked with a frown.

"Yeah... It's... nothing, really." Still it takes a few seconds before she shakes off the felling. "Maybe we should get going before Walter decides to run experiments on Astrid." She smiled at him as she got up from her seat.

"Oh, I think Astrid is safe. Remember, I'm his favourite guinea pig," Peter snorts following her lead.

"I guess you are." She patted him on the back chuckling has he passed by.

Peter stopped just as they were about to exit the shop. "We should grab something for Astrid and Walter. I will never ear the end of it if I don't bring him something sweet." Olivia nodded in agreement so they made a stop at the shop's pastry display, making their selection before heading out.

* * *

As they left they failed to notice the man in a dark suit and the fedora watching them.

He took out a device resembling an old cellular phone, he flipped it open and began to speak. "It is now certain that she does not remember their early encounter. Neither does the boy." He then closed the device and slipped it back in his pocket before disappearing into the crowd.


	5. The Photo Shop

**A/N As always big thanks and lots of beer go to Crys, once again she turned this into something bearable to read.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – The Photo Shop**

Kate ran her hand through her hair frustrated. The partial print had been a bust; not enough points on it to return a match from the database.

Then there was the victim. The guy was a ghost. All of the IDs they had found were fake. Each one with a new alias, therefore they had nothing, it was like he never existed in the first place. No family, no friends, no known associates.

Kate's only hope was that the ME could deliver something more after the autopsy. She went to the brake room for a coffee, hoping to gain some time to herself to help her think of what to do next. She was no good at sitting around waiting for things to fall into her lap.

Time for herself at the precinct had become very rare since Castle had walked into her life a few weeks ago.

"So, any ideas?" Think of the devil...

"No Castle," Kate retorted letting out a groan of frustration, "At this point in time I'm even willing to listen to one of your crazy theories."

"I was actually going to propose going back to the crime scene, maybe walking around there, retracing the victims last moments cloud help us get somewhere?"

"I can't see how, CSU is going through the entire apartment with a fine toothed comb, if there's something else there, they will find it."

"It's still better than sitting here waiting. For what I've seen in the last weeks, I'd say you're not the kind of person who likes to sit around waiting for things to happen."

Kate took a sip of coffee, looking with narrowed eyes at Castle. She hated it when he pointed out her character traits, especially when he was right. "Fine, if it gets you of my back, we'll go."

"Great!" Castle beamed like a child who had just received a birthday present, "You know, there is this amazing pastry shop on the way there, they have the most delicious bear claws..."

Kate looked at him rolling her eyes, "We just had lunch. You're already hungry?"

"I didn't get desert," Castle said in mock hurt.

"Unbelievable"

* * *

Kate parked the car nearby and they exited heading for the crime scene.

Having talked Beckett into calling in at the bakery on the way, Castle was holding his huge bear claw, scarfing it down at an alarming rate.

"I can't believe you're eating another one," Kate said shaking her head in disbelief.

"It's not my fault, you didn't want yours. It's a shame to throw away such a precious delicacy."

"I didn't ask you to buy me one."

"It's your loss," Castle said taking another mouth full.

Kate looked at him grimacing. "Really, how much more sugar do you need?" she asked keeping her voice low.

"What?"

"Nothing, just finish your bear claw so we can go to the scene."

They stood at the entrance to the building while Castle happily polished off the rest of the pastry and a very frustrated NYPD Detective waited for him. He took his time, fully knowing how much more annoyed Kate was becoming with every passing second. He just loved to push her buttons.

It was then however, that he noticed something on the other side of the street, directly opposite the building. "Detective Becket, look at that."

"What?" she snapped at him.

"Really Beckett, look. The camera store across the street."

Reluctantly, she looked as Castle asked and after a few seconds she noticed what he was trying to show her. "There's a surveillance camera pointing this way. I don't remember seeing it when we first came here."

"That's because it was pointed towards the store entrance when we arrived this morning," Castle said popping the last bite of bear claw into his mouth triumphantly.

"That is odd," Kate frowned, "let's pay a visit to the store and talk to the manager. Perhaps something good may come out of this useless field trip after all."

"And if it doesn't, at least I ate two amazing bear claws." Castle said grinning.

They crossed the street and entered the store, Kate took a quick look around, but there was no one in sight. The store appeared to be unattended.

She did however notice three more cameras. One was pointed at the counter, another on the back wall of the small store, probably offering a wide angle view that would capture most of the shop, while the last was behind the counter and would be directed at any customer approaching it.

"Excuse me," Kate called, looking towards a door that presumably to lead to an office in the back.

"Oh my God, these are all vintage cameras!" Castle said picking one up from an accessible shelf.

"For God sakes Castle! Do you have to touch everything? Put that down!" Kate admonished just as an African-American man in his late 50's appeared from the office.

"You have very good taste sir," he said to Castle, "That there is a Hasselblad 500el, it's the very same model NASA used during the Apollo program."

Castle looked in awe at the camera, "You mean this was the camera they used to take pictures on the moon?"

"Not that one particularly, since it was manufactured in 1982, but it's the same model. They say the astronauts left twelve of those cameras up there."

"That is so Awesome!" Castle said beaming at Kate.

She looked at him, her eyes narrowed and ready to say something back, but then she decided that ignoring him would be a better option. Instead she turned to the man behind the counter. "I'm sorry sir, we're not here to do business."

"Speak for yourself," Castle said still intently studying at the camera.

Kate ignored him again and continued to speak to the man, showing her ID, she introduced herself, "Detective Kate Beckett, NYPD."

"Curtis Owen. What can I do for you Detective?"

"Are you the owner of the store?"

"Yes I am mam, it's been mine for the last 24 years. If my son had his way though, he'd have had me sell it a long time ago, 'No one cares about old film cameras anymore dad,' that's what he keeps telling me." The old man said with a sad smile. "He doesn't understand how hard I had to work to open this store. Photography was always a passion of mine, has been since I was a kid. For me it's not only taking the picture or even capturing a moment in its perfection through your composition, it's also about what comes next; developing the film in a dark room, the skill of achieving the perfect exposure, of seeing the picture take shape in front of your eyes. You cannot photoshop those experiences Detective.  
Anyone can take photos with a digital camera or those fancy new smartphones everyone uses these days, but taking a good picture on film, not everyone can do that and it's worth a thousand digital images."

Kate smiled back at Curtis, amused by the old man's rant.

"But you're not here to listen to me ramble about photography, are you Detective?"

"No, I'm not Mr Owen, but I think you're right about old cameras and the merits of using film." That earned her a full smile from Curtis, before she pressed on with her enquiry. "I was wondering about that surveillance camera you have outside, does it often face the building on the other side of the street?"

"Those damned kids," he mumbled and immediately disappeared back to the small office.

Kate looked at Castle in surprise at the old man's reaction. "What's got into him?"

Castle shrugged also surprised by the old man. He didn't have time to answer because soon after Curtis appeared from the office with a small ladder, marching outside with Beckett and Castle in tow.

He quickly set the ladder, making sure it was securely adjusted before climbing. "Local kids, they think it's funny to turn the camera, this is the 3rd time this week," he explained at last.

"I'm sorry Mr. Owen, but can you tell me which direction your camera was facing last Tuesday?"

"To where I'm going to point it now Detective," He answered as he climbed and set to work to re-adjust the angle of the camera to once more cover the entrance to the store.

Satisfied with the positioning once more, Curtis descended then stepped off the ladder, "May I ask, why are you so interested in the positioning of my camera?"

"We're investigating a crime which occurred in the building on the other side of the street. When we saw that your camera was turned that way..."

"You were hopping I had footage of that building," Curtis concluded before Kate could finish.

"Exactly!" Castle said has they went back to the store.

"From that camera, it would be hard to have footage of any kind," Curtis said chuckling.

"Why is that?" Castle asked.

"Because it's a fake."

Castle and Kate looked at each other in disappointment. "Well I'm very sorry to have bothered you Mr Owen. Anyhow, thank you for your help," Kate headed for the exit motioning for Castle to follow her.

"I didn't say that I didn't have any footage, Detective."

Kate and Castle stopped in their tracks.

"You just said the camera was a fake and that's the only one you have outside. The other three cameras you have inside wouldn't have a view of the building. That is if they're not fakes too."

"They are also fakes, Detective." Curtis confirmed with a grin.

Kate was starting to feel the frustration of having no leads and Castle's continuous efforts to annoy getting to her. On top of that now she had to deal with added layers of contradictory crypticism from Curtis, which was serving only to great on her already agitated nerves. All she wanted was for him to get to the point and explain what he meant.

"Mr Owen, please, could you get to the point?" she said sounding a bit harsher than she had intended.

"Well, someone got out on the wrong side of the bed this morning," the old man replied taken aback by Beckett's reaction.

"She's been like this all day. You have no idea what I have to put up with," Castle said in a sympathetic tone.

Kate turned to Castle, shooting daggers at him with her look. Then she looked back at Curtis.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to be harsh, I apologize. But please, would you care to explain what you mean by, and I quote, 'I didn't say that I didn't have any footage.'"

"It's ok Detective we all have our bad days" Curtis said in a sympathetic tone "You see, last year I had a brake-in here at the store. Those who did it sprayed the security cameras with black paint making the footage useless in attempting to identify them later. Thank God, they only took the money I keep in the small safe I have in the back office. They left the camera stock untouched. They had no idea of how much they're worth."

"Don't tell me you installed new hidden cameras after that break-in and left mock shells as decoys?" Castle said excited.

"Exactly! You see that old Ensign Selfix 820 over there on that shelf, with the back facing the store window?" Curtis pointed to the one he meant.

"The viewfinder of that camera is actually one of those new wireless cameras. It transmits to a computer that I have in the office. My son is a tech buff, he installed it for me after the break-in. I have another one displaying the door and three more monitoring the inside of the store. The devices at door and in the store window should give you a good perspective on your building entrance, Detective."

Kate was surprised by the old man's resourcefulness. "And you have footage from last Tuesday?"

"The software my son installed keeps the footage on the computer's hard drive. Every Monday I copy the previous week's footage to DVD to free space on the hard drive. It should be no problem getting what you require," Curtis said smiling at the Detective.

"Can you copy the footage from last Tuesday, from around 9am to midnight?" She asked just before their conversation was interrupted by her phone. "Excuse me," she said turning away to answer, "Beckett"

"Yo Beckett, where you at?" Esposito asked.

"I'm with Castle checking a possible lead near the crime scene."

"Good, you better get over there ASAP. Sandy from CSU just called, they found something interesting."

"Great, thanks Espo," Kate hung up and turned back to Curtis. " , we have to go, but if you could provide a copy of the footage from the period I mentioned, we would appreciate it very much. Can we come back latter to pick it up?"

"Sure, no problem Detective Beckett."

"Thank you sir," she turned once more starting for the door. "Let's go Castle, CSU found something on scene."

"You go, I don't mind staying here with . I can help him sort out the right footage to copy. You can pick me up when you finish."

Kate furrowed her brows, still she decided not to comment on his decision. "Suit yourself Castle," and with that she exited the store and made her way to the victim's apartment.

When she arrived there she was spotted by Sandy, who greeted her, "Detective Beckett, welcome back."

"What have you got for me Sandy?"

"Well, we almost missed this," She said holding up a ziplock back containing a small scrap of paper. Handing it off to Beckett she continued, "it was in the pocket of a pair of trousers. The guy had a pile of dirty laundry in the bathroom, apparently we wasn't a big fan of taking care of his clothes."

Kate examined the faded print on the battered slip, "A receipt for a storage facility out in Queens, dated from four months ago. About the same time he rented this apartment," she looked at Sandy with a pensive expression. "Have you guys found a key that might belong to that storage facility?"

"Already ahead of you Detective" Sandy said handing Kate a bunch of keys, "These are all the keys we found, except for the apartment keys and the key to the building entrance which I have already separated from that set."

"Excellent," Kate said smiling at Sandy, "nice work." The Technician smiled back, flattered by the praise.

Kate took her phone from her pocket, "Espo, I need you and Ryan in Queens. I'm going to text you the address, meet me there. It seems our vic rented a storage locker."

"On our way."

Kate hurried to exit the building, almost bumping into Castle on her way out.

"Woah Beckett! What's the rush?"

"Castle, let's go, we're going to meet Javi and Ryan in Queens."

"What's in Queens?" He asked turning on his heel to follow her. She filled him in on the details on way back to the car.

"Hmm, a secret hideout perhaps?"

"Yeah Castle, I'm sure he kept lots of cool spy gadgets there," Kate snorted. "Did you get the footage?"

"Right here," Castle said tapping in his jacket pocket.

Kate laid her hand out. "Hand it over."

He raised an eyebrow, "Don't you trust me Detective?"

"Of course I do," she gave him a warm smile which suddenly turned to a stern look, "Now, hand it over."

"Only because you asked nicely" Castle pulled the disk from his pocket and put it in Kate's hand.

* * *

Javi and Ryan where waiting for them when they arrived at the storage depot.

"Ok guys, we're looking for locker 27. According to the manager it's this way, then left. It should be the 2nd door on the right." Ryan said leading the way.

Reaching the roller door, Kate sorted through the set of keys Sandy had given to her. She tried the first key with no success. She flipped through the bunch trying each in turn, when she got to the 4th key, the lock released.

Rolling the door up, they saw a stack of unmarked crates which filled almost half of the storage space.

Esposito took a knife from his pocket and jimmied the lid off one of the crates. Revealing the contents, he reached inside removing one of them; a jar with a large screw-top lid containing a clear liquid inside. The case was full of 11 others. He carefully took the lid out and smelled the contents. "I'll be damned!"

Castle approached Javi giving a sniff to the jar's contents, then he put a finger inside it and sucked on it. His eyes opened wide in excitement.

"Moonshine!"


End file.
